


Shine a Light

by Heronfem



Category: Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Communication Failure, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, M/M, NO rape, past Dorian/Adaar
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-07
Updated: 2016-07-07
Packaged: 2018-07-22 02:52:18
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,590
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7416748
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Heronfem/pseuds/Heronfem
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dorian wakes up in Hauma Adaar's bed with no memory of how he got there, and reaches the worst (but incorrect) conclusion.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Shine a Light

**Author's Note:**

> From haffyzworld on tumblr: Adoribull Sunday Prompt! Dorian wakes up after a night of drinking, naked in the inquisitor's bed, with said inquisitor in it and no memory of what happened. Que Dorian thinking he cheated on Bull and hates himself (while in reality nothing happened that night) DRAMA GALORE!  
> \---  
> Trigger warning: implications of past dubious consent, Dorian believes for around half a day that he may have cheated without considering that it would also be rape, mistaken anger.  
> All ends well and is cleared up.

The first thing Dorian realized was that he was in a bed far more comfortable than his own usually was. The mattress was the perfect balance between soft and firm, supportive without being hard, and he wanted nothing more than to remain there indefinitely. But the motion of someone shifting in bed beside him meant that he needed to get up and find his way back to his own room to sleep off the hangover that was crawling through his skin. He had no idea where he was or how he'd gotten there.

It had been a long, long time since he'd gotten truly blackout drunk. 

He'd probably been brought back to someone's room to make sure he didn't manage to die in his sleep, and in his haze of early morning half-sleep that sounded just fine.

The arm over his waist moved up, holding him tighter, and there was a familiar rumble of pleasure as someone nosed at the tender spot behind his ear that always made him weak in the knees. Dorian's stomach dropped as he realized where he was.

“Welcome back to the land of the living,” Hauma Adaar purred in his ear, and Dorian nearly shivered as the clawed hand lazily stroked his stomach. Hauma was not a cuddler except in the early hours of the morning, and Dorian had almost missed how gentle he could be when they woke up together. The soft breath on his neck turning into soft nuzzling, and despite himself he found that he was relaxing. Hauma's hand's lazily stroked down his chest, quietly soothing, and Dorian struggled to keep his eyes open.

Abruptly the cuddling ended, Hauma's tolerance apparently spent, and the furnace at his back pulled away. Dorian rolled over so he could watch the man stand, stomach still unsettled by more than a night of drinking. He was naked, as he was prone to be when not in public and whenever he slept. He was a lean, brutal mountain of a Qunari, slender but well built. His skin was deep bronze, with more of a golden undertone than Dorian's, and was covered in scars. He had corkscrew horns that jutted back and upwards. His hair was kept in a mohawk until it reached his neck, when it became a tight braid that Bull did for him, despite complaining about what a pain it was to work with the delicate, fine hair so unlike Bull's own thick curls. He tossed a lazy smile at Dorian as he stretched, showing sharp teeth.

Hauma was beautiful, and Dorian was almost sick at the sight of him. He was sore, aching all over, and he had to take a moment to clear his throat before asking, “What happened?”

“You got smashed and decided I was your best friend ever,” he drawled, and Dorian swallowed hard as Hauma lazily sauntered over to his dresser to fetch out clothes for the day. “Obviously we slept together.”

Dorian froze as Hauma pulled on pants and shirt, breath catching in his throat. He'd slept with Hauma. He'd slept with Hauma, and while Bull would only be a little confused Dorian hadn't told him first, _Dorian_ certainly cared that he'd failed so badly. He had sworn he would never be that man again, had promised Bull he'd be celibate aside from when they were together just for the thrill of it, and here he was in another mans bed.

Worse still, an _exes_ bed. 

He and Hauma had a history that was best summed up as “wild”. Hauma was passionate, aggressive in his courting, and Dorian had loved that he had no compunctions about vicious, brutal sex that had left them both limping for a few days. There were a lot of defiled walls, trees, and nooks around Skyhold in Dorian's past. While the sex had been mindblowing, they'd both come to the realization they were better as occasional lovers instead of partners, at least until Hauma could learn to control his temper better. And so that part of their relationship had died, and Bull had finally made good on his determination to seduce Dorian once he knew Hauma wasn't going to murder him in his sleep.

Dorian got out of bed, noting his nakedness with no small amount of horror, and began dragging his clothes off. His body throbbed with leftover pain, his ass and back carrying the brunt of it, and he flinched slightly as Hauma's hands carefully helped his coat on and neatly did up the buckles on the sides.

“I'll see you at dinner,” Hauma said briskly, already heading down the stairs by the time Dorian finished his separate sleeve. Dorian managed a faint noise of acknowledgment, and then Hauma was gone.

He began making his slow way down the stairs, dreading what the day would bring.

oOo

He found Sera first, to confirm his suspicions. She was in her room, industriously eating an apple, and tossed him a little loaf of bread when he sank onto one of her cushioned chairs.

“What's the matter, gloom-guts?” she asked, snickering, but it faded away when Dorian didn't laugh.

“Sera, I have to ask you what I did last night,” he said quietly.

“Drank, mostly. Danced on a table at one point- hilarious, that, by the way, and sat on Hau most of the night.” She cackled. “You told him his eyes were _pretty_.”

“He does have pretty eyes,” Dorian said weakly. “They're a very nice brown.”

Sera shrugged, cackling. “Told him he was right beautiful, and he finally took you back with him when you started getting sleepy-drunk and conked out on his lap for a bit there.”

“Thank you,” Dorian said managing a smile, and fled to the library.

oOo

Bull found him in the library once he'd finally returned with the Chargers around midday and dropped a kiss on his head. Dorian flinched, and Bull pulled away, frowning.

“Woah, what is it?”

“I have to tell you something,” Dorian said quietly, his hands tightening on the book he was holding. The library was blessedly mostly empty, almost everyone already out to lunch. Even Helisma was gone, so no one but perhaps the sweet little librarian would be witness to his failure. The pages of the book wrinkled and he carefully let go, gently stroking them and straightening them out.

“Sounds serious.” Bull pulled up a chair, and Dorian rubbed his eyes with one hand.

“It is,” he said quietly. “I... I got very drunk last night and made some very poor decisions. I slept with Hauma.”

Bull's face went blank. “You were drunk?” His tone was deliberately calm, and it made Dorian's whole being want to shrivel up and die. Bull knew about his history when it came to bars and bad decisions with men. Hot, molten shame poured through him.

“I don't remember last night,” he admitted, his voice very small. “I'm so sorry, Bull, I shouldn't have been drinking-”

“Hauma doesn't drink,” Bull said flatly. “Does he.”

“No, he says it makes the aggression worse,” Dorian said, a little confused about where this was going. “He likes having that control and being able to handle anything that comes his way.”

“So,” Bull said, his voice still deliberately calm. “Hauma took you to bed while he was sober, and you were blackout drunk and couldn't consent?”

Dorian shrank a little at the rage in his eye. “You're angry.”

“Not at you, _kadan_.” Bull sighed, rubbing his forehead. “How the fuck are we going to deal with this?”

“I'm sorry, I-”

“Not you, sweetheart.” Bull gave him a tired smile, taking his hand. “I'm not mad at you and I'm not blaming you, I'm mad that Hauma isn't the man I thought he was.”

Dorian tentatively squeezed his hand, trying for a smile. “If it helps, it's not like this is the first time I've made poor decisions with men while drunk.”

A flash of pain crossed Bull's face, and he lowered his head to press Dorian's knuckles to his forehead. “I know, _kadan_. And it really doesn't help.” He sighed, standing up, and Dorian rose with him. “Come on, let's get you something to eat. And then I need to go exercise some anger on a training dummy so I don't kill our Inquisitor.”

Dorian shuddered at the thought of them fighting, holding Bull's hand all the tighter. Hauma was a Reaver as well, and two Qunari Reavers in a pitched battle sounded like a nightmare. While Bull had more years of training and a cooler head, Hauma was an unstoppable force when the rage took him. Dorian was hard pressed to say who would win if it came to a knock-down, drag out brawl between the pair of them. Come to that, he wasn't honestly certain if either of them would survive. He shivered again and leaned into Bull, letting him wrap an arm around his shoulders.

Once they'd eaten lunch and Dorian had cajoled him into telling him about the past few days work, they headed for Bull's room. They were crossing the open area of the courtyard when Hauma jogged up the steps and called out.

Bull stopped, taking a slow breath, and Dorian winced at the look on his face.

“Don't do anything rash,” he said quietly as they turned. 

Hauma came up to them, smiling. “Bull, it's good to see you back. Trip went well?”

“Swimmingly,” Bull said, smiling with all his teeth. Hauma paused, cocking his head. He and Bull got along well, and Hauma not very subtly looked up to him as both a friend and mentor.

“What's wrong?”

Dorian could see the moment when Bull threw caution to the wind, and braced himself for the fallout. “I find myself questioning who I'm following.”

Hauma recoiled as if struck, then bared his teeth. They were very, very sharp teeth. “And what's that supposed to mean?”

Bull crossed his arms as Dorian took a surreptitious step back. “It means I question your morals if you're sleeping with people when they're drunk.”

“ _What_?” Hauma seemed genuinely baffled. “What's wrong with that?”

Bull's eye blazed with fury. “You can't see where there might be a moral quandary of sleeping with someone too drunk to consent?”

Hauma stared at him, clearly lost. “I don't see what consent has to do with sleeping with someone if I'm trying to keep them from puking in their sleep.”

Little bells started going off in Dorian's head, and he took a half step forward.

“ _You don't see why consent might be important?_ ” Bull snarled, and Hauma put his hands up.

“It's not like we were _fucking_.”

The three of them all paused, as the words caught up.

“What?” Dorian croaked.

Hauma looked over at him, a flash of hurt crossing his face. “You... You don't remember last night, do you?”

Dorian shook his head, heart hammering in his chest. Hauma was clearly thinking back, horror dawning on his face.

“You were sore, you were naked, I was naked, you didn't know how you got to my room,” he said quietly, his hands curling into fists. “I told you that we just slept together. We've got a history, and I've got a history of being jealous and vindictive. _Fuck_.” He took a step back, clearly shaken.

“Hauma, I'm so sorry,” Dorian whispered, his heart in his throat.

“Nothing happened, I swear,” Hauma said, slightly desperate. “ _Nothing_. You were lonely and asked me to spend time with you, so we wound up at the Tavern and I made sure nothing happened while you relaxed. I still don't have a good grasp on how much humans drink, I should have cut you off, but the most we did was curl up together when you got lonely. You fell down a few times when I took you to my room, that's the only reason why you were sore.” He ran a hand over his head, looking away. “I don't even drink, and I don't take people to my bed who can't tell me yes or no safely. I know who I am and what I look like- I don't fuck with people who can't handle that.”

“Hauma,” Bull started, looking gutted, but Hauma waved him off.

“Don't. You had every right to be concerned.” He gave them a tight smile that didn't reach his eyes. “All the jokes about madness are hilarious until you realize other people think they're true. Just give me a bit. Go spend some time together, relax. I'll see you later.”

He left back down the stairs, and Dorian took a reflexive step forward.

“Oh, _kaffas_ ,” he whispered, heart aching. “I need to fix this.”

“Let him breathe a bit,” Bull said quietly, drawing him back. “We'll apologize together. It's going to be a rough conversation.”

oOo

Hauma was quiet at dinner, unusually so, but didn't complain when Dorian and Bull followed him up to his room.

“I'm sorry,” he said again, dropping down onto the end of his bed and resting his forehead in his hands. “Shit, I can't- just, _shit_.”

Dorian hesitantly sat next to him, resting a hand on his shoulder. “For the record,” he said gently, “it wasn't you that I blamed. I have... well. I have a history of indiscretions with men while drunk enough I wouldn't remember the next day, mostly on purpose. I thought that I had simply done what I'd done many times in the past. Thank you for looking out for me, and I am so sorry that I jumped to conclusions instead of communicating better.”

Hauma shook his head, sitting up and letting his hands drop back down. “No, really, this is my fault. I should have been clear, this- fuck, I'm sorry Dorian. We never really talked about that, I didn't know.”

“It's not something I go parading around,” Dorian said, patting his shoulder. “Nor would I want to.”

Hauma looked up at Bull, mouth twisting into a wry grin. “Don't apologize. I mean, it hurts, but I'd rather know you're willing to take on anyone.”

Bull huffed a laugh, ruffling his hair and shoving his horns. Hauma growled, trying to bat him away as Bull chuckled, and Dorian sat back to watch with a fond smile as Hauma launched up and tackled Bull. Bull laughed, knowing it was all in play, and Hauma grinned as he managed to get him on the floor.

“Now, now,” Dorian said, watching them tussle about the room and smiling, “think of the rugs.”

Bull successfully pinned Hauma, and Hauma groaned, letting his head hit the floor. 

“What are you going to do next time?” Bull asked, in his best false-patronizing voice, making it clear that there was no grudge held.

“Immediately clarify the situation,” Hauma said, without so much as an eyeroll. “I swear.”

“Good.” Bull let him up, only to be immediately tackled again. “Asshole!”

Dorian laughed, and felt his heart lighten once again as he watched the pair. Hauma “won” again and sprang up going over to sprawl on the bed.

“No hard feelings?” Dorian asked gently, and Hauma grinned at him, flicking his nose to make him squawk.

“Not a one.”

“Good,” Dorian said with a smile, and was promptly pulled down into a hug. He rolled his eyes but let Hauma hold him, only to let out an “oof” of surprise when Bull wrapped his arms around them both and hauled them off the bed. “You're both terrible, I tell you.”

Hauma laughed, and Dorian let himself be held, content.


End file.
